Maine AG Brushes Off Safety Fears Over Trans Athletes in Girls' Sports Amid Federal Lawsuit

Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey is standing firm on his state’s support for transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s sports, despite a high-profile lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice. In a CNN interview, Frey stated, "there are no issues of safety" with allowing trans girls to compete alongside cisgender peers, and that Maine officials have found no evidence backing claims of harm.

"We’ve been working through to understand what, if any problem, exists with the participation. If some of the harms that are being alleged really are of some concern and what we’ve identified, there really are no concerns of safety," Frey said, adding that those who transition categories are not a safety issue either.

The debate was reignited after a local state representative highlighted a trans athlete who switched from the boys' to the girls' pole vault category and won a competition. While this has drawn national attention, Frey emphasized that only two trans students are currently participating in girls' sports statewide. "There is just a small number of trans students who are participating in sports, that two number is all that we've come up with," he noted. Apparently, the state is following both the Maine Human Rights Act and Title IX in its policy.

Federal officials see things differently. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the Department of Justice is seeking to overturn Maine's policies, arguing that they violate federal anti-discrimination laws and deny fair competition to girls. Their complaint specifically points to alleged risks of injury and lack of equal opportunity, referencing a well-publicized incident in another state where a female volleyball player was injured by a trans athlete's spike.

Governor Janet Mills fired back, calling the lawsuit "the latest salvo" in what she described as a campaign to undermine states' rights. Mills insisted the real issue is federal overreach, not the safety or fairness of school sports. She also pointed to a recent court ruling granting Maine a temporary restraining order as validation for the state's approach.

As the legal wrangling continues, local school districts are taking sides. In a move that bucks state policy, MSAD #70’s school board voted unanimously to restrict trans athletes from girls' sports, aligning with federal Title IX interpretations favored by the Trump administration. Superintendent Tyler Putnam said district policies will be amended accordingly.

The national debate over trans athletes in school sports is clearly not slowing down, with Maine now at the center of the legal and cultural storm. For now, state officials say they’ll stick to their guns—and by their count, it’s a debate over just two students. Sometimes the biggest fights really do start with the smallest numbers.